In the Film Industry, Hollywood Studios are using 3D LUT Systems to color-grading - mastering of Blu-Ray Movies we are enjoying at home.

All These Years there were 3 color management software at professional range - THX CineSpace, Light Illusion LightSpace CMS & FilmLight TrueLight Color, (CalMAN Studio is a newcomer came out this year), that can create Accurate 3D LUT Tables for displays/projectors but the cost of software+hardware was so high for consumer to install that type of systems at home.

I have used evaluation versions of THX CineSpace & LightSpace CMS and here is my small review about these products:

THX CineSpace is working with CineTal’s DAVIO (~5.000$) or other expensive professional LUT holder devices, they are supporting X-Rite iDisplay PRO / i1PRO (no i1PRO2 yet) / Hubble, Photo Research, Minolta but no any JETI Spectro yet. The problem is that they don’t support profiling a colorimeter from a Spectro. You can access saved colorimeter meter correction profiles from Hubble or Klein only, i1Display PRO can’t be profiled, there no plans currently to support spectro profiling since it’s targeting professional range of meters.

FilmLight TrueLight Color is working with their own system and measuring device, no support for other hardware LUT holder devices or other color analysers.

LightIllusion LightSpace CMS is supporting DAVIO, Pandora Pluto, Tcube Fig (~4.000$) and with the latest version of the software you can use as a LUT Holder the Lumagen Radiance or Entertainment Experience eeColor. It has internal profile creating support from Any Spectro to any Colorimeter like i1Display PRO, i1PRO2, JETI, Klein K-10A etc. Lumagen can be used for storing 21-Step 1D LUT (RGB) for GreyScale with a 5 Point Cube (125 Colors) but with different approach from CalMAN or ChromaPure we are currently using. Professional Approach that is used from THX CineSpace, LightI llusion LightSpace CMS & FilmLight TrueLight is to measusure the display first with up to 17 Point Cube (4913 Colors) to see how the display performs and then to create a Correction LUT Table according to the selected targets, REC709 etc. This is the way all studios are mastering the Blu-Ray content and reproducing this method at home display/projector will get you even closer for viewing the movies ‘’as the director intended’’. LightSpace CMS has a Quick Profiling capability that cuts profiling to just a few minutes for displays with good RGB Separation.

Profiling with a 5 point Cube is not large enough for critical color-accurate calibrations (10 point Cube is really the minimum required). LightSpace CMS uses 17 point Cube (4913 Colors) Measurements and then using a high-level color maths engine it creates a more accurate 5-Point LUT. The key to this is that Lumagen is using that 21-Point Grayscale among with their 5-Point Cube.

The big deal is that Steve Shaw from LightSpace CMS closed a special deal with eeColor Company to offer eeColor Hardware for only 600$, this is truly amazing for HT consumers that can now have calibrated their displays with up to 65-Point Cube (274625 Colors) with a low cost 3D LUT hardware box that has previously retailed for a lot more.

I believe that Professional Calibrators with Reference Instruments and Knowledge will have to start using LightSpace CMS to their customers for truly reference monitor/projector profiling using eeColor or Lumagen.

I Know there is also a special promotional offer for LightSpace New Customers that is running right now.

Steve Shaw during advance testing of integration process discovered some issues with the eeColor & Lumagen Hardware at their then current versions. They have now been fixed with a firmware update. Supprising these issue were not spotted by other calibration systems.

BTW I’m part of Alpha-Beta Testing of Intergration of Lumagen to LightSpace CMS.

I'm sure most everyone here is interested in this. However, this reads as nothing more than a paid marketing blurp. And the discovered Lumagen issue that keeps being thrown about has already been clarified by Randy to not have been an issue at all for most users.

Ted is beta-testing the application of LightSpace CMS within the Home Cinema market, along with a number of other users, but is not 'paid' for the testing, of for commenting on his thoughts.

The Lumagen issue would indeed have caused problem with all calibration, as it prevented the box from being transparent to input levels.
There was no way around that being a problem.
But, the problem was just in the highlights, so may not have been enough of an error for other to have seen it.

We have been talking to Jim and Patrick at Lumagen, and Tom has verified the issue, and reported it as fixed.
To be fair, we have not net checked - something to do today.

The eeColor box has show as being totally transparent now, and is already in use with a number of LightSpace CMS users.
This box doesn't have the image processing of the Lumagen, but if the source is a good one then that can be preferable.
And hopefully the price we have negotiated with eeColor is of interest...
But, we do like the Lumagen boxes too, especially for the additional processing included.

I'm sure most everyone here is interested in this. However, this reads as nothing more than a paid marketing blurp.

You missed the point, The reason I posted that mini-review of the de-facto software that professionals using for critical color applications at Hollywood Studios is to inform the people that interested in HT calibrations that now are able to have the similar accurancy at their home.

I’m not telling that LightSpace CMS is the only way or it’s the best versus the other companies, all these software options are the best available, they all using advanced maths to create accurate profiles.

I’m talking from the consumer side, The difference is with LightSpace CMS you can use normal consumer meters (with profiling) like i1PRO1/2/iD3 with a (Now) Low-priced LUT holder hardware for 65-Point LUT accurate profiling.

I’m not getting money from Steve Shaw for advertising, I don’t know if I will buy LightSpace CMS finally, it’s not cheap, that type of software are not cheap, but if the professional calibrators that currently are performing 1D LUT - 6-Color Calibrations for 300-400$ spending 4-6 Hours can NOW offer to their customers ‘Hollywood Style’ 3D LUT using LightSpace CMS with eeColor (600$) Box profiling with 17-Point Cube (4917 Colors) Resolution spending less than 3 hours using a Klein Colorimeter IS Something Now Is Possible

If THX CineSpace will support eeColor hardware I will be here to inform you instantly.

Praz, I'm not paid, i'm just impressed from the support of Light Ilussion, their knowledge, before some months i asked why LightSpace CMS don't have profiling feature... After a week, a profiling featured is added to their software. I was not a aplha/beta tester that time i was asked about that.

For home users Its on sale now for $2,650.00, plus you will need eeColor ColorBox and maybe a extra cost add on.
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"Home user" is a bit optimistic. For a few hundred dollars a home user can get a ChromaPure or CalMAN software/meter bundle and calibrate a display. For a bit more they can get the ability to calibrate 5x5x5 cube display characterizations (125 points) for the Lumagen Radiance VP series if they choose. I wouldn't think there are going to be very many individual non professionals willing to spend the money for professional software. What I feel is important is that a professional can obtain LightSpace software at a generous discount and also be able to offer an ee Processor for $1000 less than is presently available from other sources and produce LUTs from 17x17x17 cube display characterizations (4913 points). If a customer already has a Lumagen Radiance series video processor there would be no other cost than the calibrator's fee.

From the Light Illusion site:

The LUTs are derived from the profile. Among others, Disney and Warner Brothers use LightSpace for obvious reasons. Now this same accuracy is available to individual home theaters and displays if the owner so desires. It's the next step up. Until, and if, television and front projector manufacturers incorporate LUT processors on their circuit boards, this is as good, and as cost effective, as it gets.

Caveat: I have been a CalMAN 5 beta tester, probably the only SpectraCal beta tester with the SpectraCal ColorBox, and a beta tester with LightSpace and its implications with both the Commercial eeColor Processor and the Lumagen Radiance series of processors.

"Home user" is a bit optimistic. For a few hundred dollars a home user can get a ChromaPure or CalMAN software/meter bundle and calibrate a display. For a bit more they can get the ability to calibrate 5x5x5 cube display characterizations (125 points) for the Lumagen Radiance VP series if they choose. I wouldn't think there are going to be very many individual non professionals willing to spend the money for professional software. What I feel is important is that a professional can obtain LightSpace software at a generous discount and also be able to offer an ee Processor for $1000 less than is presently available from other sources and produce LUTs from 17x17x17 cube display characterizations (4913 points). If a customer already has a Lumagen Radiance series video processor there would be no other cost than the calibrator's fee.
From the Light Illusion site:

The LUTs are derived from the profile. Among others, Disney and Warner Brothers use LightSpace for obvious reasons. Now this same accuracy is available to individual home theaters and displays if the owner so desires. It's the next step up. Until, and if, television and front projector manufacturers incorporate LUT processors on their circuit boards, this is as good, and as cost effective, as it gets.
Caveat: I have been a CalMAN 5 beta tester, probably the only SpectraCal beta tester with the SpectraCal ColorBox, and a beta tester with LightSpace and its implications with both the Commercial eeColor Processor and the Lumagen Radiance series of processors.

The price I was given was just for home use.
It is my understanding that eeColor will not generate color patterns, and if you use a Lumagen Radiance you would not be able to do any higher cube points than 125, same as what I have now.
Also I don't think you can use a C6, it would have to be a I1display pro.

So for home use I am very happy with the results of CM5E and my Mini 3D along with my C6 profiled from my I1pro 2. Anyway I would have my doubts about how much a program like that would help me with a consumer grade TV, all be it a good display.

We do not differentiate 'Home Users' from 'Calibrators' - the software is all the same...
As Buzz says, we are looking at the 'Calibrator' market as being the most likely clients due to the price and this being true professional software.

The eeColor LUT Box uses 65x65x65 LUTs - generated via LightSpace CMS from 17x17x17 profile data.
It is very worthwhile making a larger calibration LUT from a smaller profile.
Actually, due to the limitations of probe accuracy it is not good to 'profile' with too many points... 17 points is about optimum.

It is this large profiling cube size that is important.

The eeColor box doesn't generate patters, as with LightSpace you do not need that.
All pattern generation is within LightSpace.
No other hardware needed.

The Radiance uses 21 step 1D LUTs combined with a 5x5x5 3D LUT.

But, it is the profiling that is important.
Having better profiling accuracy will always generated more accurate calibration with the same final LUT size.

Profiling with just a 5 point cube is not enough for colour accuracy. This is what the images Buzz posted shows.
Generating a 21 step 1D LUT combined with a 5 point 3D LUT from a 17 point profile, as used in the Radiance, works.
But, generating a 65 point 3D LUT from a 17 point profile, as for the eeColor, will be more accurate.

The eeColor box doesn't generate patters, as with LightSpace you do not need that.
All pattern generation is within LightSpace.
No other hardware needed.

SOMETHING has to generate the patterns that are measured by the light meter. Do you require running LightSpace on a computer with HDMI output so that patterns produced by LightSpace can be displayed at the right time for the meter to read them? If so, there must be a fail-safe method of outputting the patterns directly to the HDMI output without them passing-through the computer's video subsystem. The computer's video subsystem would likely change the patterns.

This is a big deal IMO! Especially the price point for the eeColor. But with anything to do with calibration, few display owners have an interest in an accurate picture (unfortunately) and of those few who do, only a very few are interested to spend $$ on these LUT boxes and/or processors... at $600, more of those few may be interested now...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doug Blackburn

A software company has developed calibration software that works with the eeColor device to generate the necessary 17x17x17 LUT. This company also claims to have been able to get the price of the eeColor device down to $600 (was originally $1500) but it isn't clear if that price only applies when you purchase their software with the eeColor device or if someone could purchase only the eeColor device for $600.

It's not that Light Illulsion developed calibration software for it, they already have calibration software for the Professional market where they are one of the few major players.. they just added support for the eeColor box and Lumagen Radiance and are focusing attention on the Home Theater market now as well..

One of the other major players, cineSpace, acquired by THX has an interest in the Home Theater market as well (they were looking at bringing to market a LUT box for the Home Theater market but that project was abandoned, not sure it there is another go at this time) ..... LightSpace has a head start...

You can buy just the box from what Steve has posted, see below. I do believe you currently really need to use Lightspace to properly do the display profiling and create the LUT for the eeColor, this is from reports I have received from users, there are not many with the eeColor......... YET!...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Light Illusion

Hi,
It is Light Illusion, through LightSpace CMS, that can generate accurate calibration LUTs for the eeColor box.
And the LUTs are 65x65x65.
It is the profiling we do that is 17x17x17, vs. the 5x5x5 125 point of other systems.
And the price we quote for the eeColor box is for the box direct, or combined with LightSpace CMS.
See the Light Illusion website for all prices.

WOW $600 Retail for the eeColor box is a great price.. That pretty much blows away anything else up to 3 times that price and more with its capabilities...

WOW $600 Retail for the eeColor box is a great price.. That pretty much blows away anything else up to 3 times that price and more with its capabilities...
Is that eeColor box the same as this one? eeColor Commercial HDMI eeColor Processorhttp://www.eecolor.com/index.php/products/
I don't want custom firmware on it but firmware directly supported the eeColor Manufacturer. Does the eeColor box available from you have custom firmware that only works with your software?

And I thought I was getting the deal of a lifetime when I bought an eeColor Processor at CEDIA 2011 for only $1200.

Yes, Turbe, it's the same box and it comes loaded with the ee LUTs that were in the box that Doug Blackburn did his review on. Those LUTs, not knowing a thing about the display they are feeding, do things to the picture not unlike (but a little different from) the Darblet. In other words, you'll either love it or hate it.

The eeBox is being sold as a LUT holder/processor for LightSpace produced 65x65x65 LUTs so all of the information and files needed to replace the factory files in the Box will be included. It involves the use of free ee software for this activity but it will all be explained.

When I first got involved my head was swimming because there just wasn't enough information available. I've been in contact with and learning from Steve Shaw since March of 2011 and I'm still learning today. As a calibrator I can honestly state that once a complete workflow (checklist for us pilot type guys) is in place the entire process will make total sense and should be relatively trouble free.

The $600 (£375) eeColor box available from Light Illusion comes with eeColor's own software.

This means you can load any compatible LUT without any additional software.

If the LUT you want to load is not compatible, you can convert it with the basic LightSpace CMS Main Component.
This is the cheapest option of LightSpace CMS.
(This option of LightSpace is just for LUT conversion, LUT Ripping, etc - no calibration capabilities).

The testing goes better and better. Today I saw a million dollar picture on a ten cent TV. Seriously, a $300 BestBuy Dynex 720P LCD with one exotic control - 2 point GS in the service menu. It has serious heavy Cyan/Green in the dark areas that is not back light related. That, in conjunction with the fact that no Rec.709 color points could be reached, was asking a lot of the LUT but it did its job beautifully.

LightSpace produced the LUT, of course. It doesn't have formal reporting capability yet so the graphics are screen captures from ChromaPure.

As soon as I get set up business wise I'll have the eeColor Boxes available for $600 to US customers.

Entertainment Experience eeColor + SpectraCAL's ColorBox is exact the same hardware. The differencies are in the firmware and at the different color of the faceplace.
Anytime you can convert your eeColor to ColorBox just sending the box to SpectraCAL or convert your eeColor to ColorBox sending the box to Entertainement Experience.

Is it possible to buy the eeColor Box and calibrate it using Calman 5 or does it need to have the Spectracal firmware on it for Calman to interact with it ?

Is there any data indicating that these (much) larger cubes actually (--> visibly) improve the final display ?

I've read posts (maybe I was misinterpreting them) that the huge amount of additional data only has a marginal effect, and that flaws in some displays simply cannot be compensated even with these huge LUT's...

Would love to see lots and lots of examples where calibrators actually implemented a LS LUT with great success in the eeColor box (or any other LUT hardware holder for that matter) used on consumer grade TV sets...

ConnecTEDDD how do you like LS ? How steep is the learning curve ? Have you successfully calibrated the eeColorbox using LS ?

@ ConnecTEDDD: thanks for the info !
So, NOW I got a few follow up questions:
Is it possible to buy the eeColor Box and calibrate it using Calman 5 or does it need to have the Spectracal firmware on it for Calman to interact with it ?

CalMAN has support for 3D-LUT Calibration only by using ColorBox.

Is there any data indicating that these (much) larger cubes actually (--> visibly) improve the final display ?

You can check this from LightSpace Cube Viewer.

I've read posts (maybe I was misinterpreting them) that the huge amount of additional data only has a marginal effect, and that flaws in some displays simply cannot be compensated even with these huge LUT's...
Would love to see lots and lots of examples where calibrators actually implemented a LS LUT with great success in the eeColor box (or any other LUT hardware holder for that matter) used on consumer grade TV sets...

This is the way all studios in the world are calibrating their displays for years, you can check the difference by yourself just uploading 2-3 LUTS of different cube resolution of 5x5x5 , 10x10x10, 17x17x17 to the ColorBox and compare it with a reference material. 17x17x17 is the default cube resolution for any critical color application at any DI granding system available. They are using 17-Point and not 20 or 30 Point becasue they have found that a larger cube has a slight difference and you need truly reference meters for that accurate readings. The reason of that way of calibrating (17-Point Cube) was unknown for most users because these LUT Holder Boxes like DAVIO (5.000$) or Pluto (4.000$) was so expensive for home users.

ConnecTEDDD how do you like LS ? How steep is the learning curve ? Have you successfully calibrated the eeColorbox using LightSpace for this?

Very simple way, You measure the 4913 color patches so the program knows what your display is capable of, after it's completed you convert that data to your target colorspace of your choice. REC.709 etc. After that you are uploading the LUT to your device.
I don't have eeColor Box yet, but i will have it soon. Buzz has done a lot of successfull Large 3D-LUT Calibrations to various display types.

the workflow you describe appears to be a very simple 3-step process... I wonder if there is a longer pre-cal / post-cal process involved or if this is really it...

I wonder how long it takes to read 4913 color patches with an iD3 ?

Can an external pattern generator such as the Radiance be used ? If so, does LS control it fully automated ? If not possible, are there workarounds (or better: instructions) to use LS as the pattern generator (properly) w/o having to buy the Spacematch add-on(s)... one for each PC...

Buying a sw for that premium price that has a capability (generate patterns) but only really works well if you buy the add-on is no good IMO...

the workflow you describe appears to be a very simple 3-step process... I wonder if there is a longer pre-cal / post-cal process involved or if this is really it...
I wonder how long it takes to read 4913 color patches with an iD3 ?
Can an external pattern generator such as the Radiance be used ? If so, does LS control it fully automated ? If not possible, are there workarounds (or better: instructions) to use LS as the pattern generator (properly) w/o having to buy the Spacematch add-on(s)... one for each PC...
Buying a sw for that premium price that has a capability (generate patterns) but only really works well if you buy the add-on is no good IMO...
Thanks.
- M

There are more than three steps but it is not time consuming except for taking the measurements. The setup requires setting black and white, color balance, and turning off everything else that might be doing any processing .Right now the reads are timed at 3 seconds so the 17 point cube profile takes just over 4 hours. Once the profile is finished it is converted into a 65x65x65 cube LUT. There will probably be some smoothing and axis blending to improve the LUT followed by appending and prepending 1023 -> 64-940 as required by the eeColor Box. This takes less than 5 minutes. Following that, the finished LUT is exported from LightSpace to a folder on your computer. After that, the LUT is copied into the appropriate Entertainment Experience software (free) and renamed to enable loading to the eeColor Box.

I'm sure there are... now, does LS verify if the pattern actually is displayed correctly on screen before it reads it ? Or how would u know that u have turned off Windows ICC handling correctly so that the patterns are displayed clean... ?

Also, can the Mini (or any other external pattern generator) be used as a pattern generator ?

How do you like the LightSpace CMS ? Have you (by any chance) compared results of the larger LS LUT on a Mini with a CM / CP 125-point LUT on a Mini setup ?

Obviously, SpaceMatch DCM will prove no ICC profile is active, and is only needed on the LightSpace PC.
(Available at a large discount for all LightSpace users)

You can easily build your own pattern generator DVD/Blu-Ray disc as LightSpace will export the correct patches.
ConnecTEDDD (above) has already made a few discs himself.
LightSpace has 'Closed-Loop' and 'Display Independent Operation' modes for different pattern generation workflows.

If there is a need for the Lumagen and eeColor boxes to act as pattern generators we can do that - we already do it with the professional LUT boxes (Davio. Pluto, Tcube...)
But, using HDMI out from the LightSpace PC works perfectly...

You guys sell a P.C. that'll put out perfect video signal through an HDMI port?

Edit: I see this quoted post was removed. ????

I've checked laptop output vs generators many times and they are always close as long as ICCs are disabled.

There is no perfect, at least not inside my bank account. I just now did the following comparison of two generators, the Before is an Accupel 5000 and the After is a Lumagen Radiance. The largest differences are in luminance, and it's not meter error as I'm using a K10-A. I'm sure I could throw in my iScan Duo and find the same lack of perfection.

It doesn't - yet. There are three of us who have been working with Steve at Light Illusion to see what can be done to bring LightSpace down from the clouds and make it understandably usable for those of us who have only been involved with consumer display calibrations. Because of our input, poor Steve has been coerced into adding meter profiling, support for the eeColor Box, support for the Lumagen Radiance series, etc. Steve works behind the scenes around the clock and we get closer every day. The Lumagen home page is showing some respect (bottom left). Thanks to cooperation and input from Entertainment Experience the method used to enable the eeColorBox and its SpectraCal counterpart has been perfected. LightSpace is evolving for people like us so I doubt it will be long before support for more pattern generators will be available.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iron Mike

btw Buzz,AFAIK u have an i1Pro as well that you use with LS, do you have the UV or UV-Cut version ?
Thanks.

I use the i1Pro to profile the K10-A. My version is that sold by X-Rite as 1One Basic so I don't think it is the UV-Cut model.

To elaborate, the Radiance is not used as a generator at this time. We generate a Profile with LightSpace internal patterns, LightSpace produces the LUT from the Profile, and then loads the LUT into the Lumagen where it is used as the holder/processor.